Showing posts with label Girls' Love Stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Girls' Love Stories. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

GIRLS' LOVE STORIES "Revenge!" & YOUNG ROMANCE "Take Me Back!"

We wind up February with this story...
...which, like the previous entries, didn't originally feature Black protagonists, as you'll see!
In our entry about Fawcett's 1950s title Negro Romance (HERE), we mentioned that the actual stories were rather generic, with the characters being illustrated as Black rather than White being the only difference.
This John Rosenberger-penciled and Win Mortimer-inked tale from DC's Girls' Love Stories #170 (1972) proves that point, since it's actually a visually-modified version of this story...
...from DC's Young Romance #151 (1967-68)!
BTW, the original tale was the cover feature!
While the fashions, hairstyles, and the leads' facial features were modified, the script stayed almost exactly the same!
Even the characters' names (Terry and Rich) were unchanged!
(Credit where credit is due: amazing romance comics historian Jacque Nodell pointed out the link between these two stories HERE!)
But the saga doesn't end there!
The story was re-presented one more time, in DC's Young Love #111 (1974)...
...this time with the usual "updating" of hairstyles and fashions...but very little modification of the original script and Terry and Rich stayed Caucasian!
Next Week:
We don't yet know what we'll present!
(But if you read last week's post, you'll see what we might run!)
No matter what, we can guarantee that...
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
And now a word from our sponsor...
Please Support True Love Comics Tales
Visit Amazon and Order...

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

GIRLS' LOVE STORIES "We Can Never Marry!" & "A Marriage Without Love!"

A bride getting cold feet at her wedding is as universal a concept as can be imagined...
...transcending ethnicity, religion, or societal upbringing!

A happy ending for this tale from DC's Girls' Love Stories #172 (1972).
But, if you're a regular reader of this blog, it might seem a bit...familiar!
That's because we already ran it last year...sort of...as part of our "Wedding Bliss" series!
This version appeared six years earlier, also in DC's Girls' Love Stories, but in #121 (1966).
(Altered reprints didn't usually appear in the same series the original version was published in!)
Curiously, the Grand Comics DataBase doesn't make mention of the reuse of the story in either of its' Girls' Love Stories listings for #121 or #172!
And, they can't make up their minds as to who illustrated it.
I lean towards a combination of John Rosenberger and Win Mortimer.
Next week:
Another Example of the Fascinating Attempt by DC to be More Inclusive...
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
(Oh, you've heard that, eh?)
And now a word from out sponsor...

featuring the cover art from all four HTF issues on kool kollectibles!

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

GIRLS' LOVE STORIES "Make-Believe Romance" & YOUNG ROMANCE "Romance That Never Was!"

This month is dedicated to a Bronze Age experiment by DC Comics!
This tale from DC's Girls' Love Story #169 (1972) is an example of that multi-issue project.
Keep in mind that Marvel had done at least one romance story with Black protagonists several years earlier...
...and you might think "Hey, better late than never!"
But, you might not be aware of one big difference!
The Marvel story, though somewhat heavy-handed, was an original!
This tale was a modified reprint!
We've talked about how Silver Age publishers (including both Marvel and DC)would take older romance stories, modify the clothing and hairstyles and re-present them behind a new lead story to fill out a comic's page count as shown HERE and HERE!
DC editor Dorothy Wollfolk believed they could do something similar, but change more than just garb and hair!
Here's the original version of "Make-Believe Romance" from DC's Young Romance #149 (1967)...
...which was apparently a "nerds in love" tale!
You'll note the script (by an unknown author) wasn't modified at all.
We're also not sure of the penciler, but the inking (and retouching for the reprint) are by Vince Colletta.
BTW, the story was reprinted (and retitled as "I Wanted Someone Just Like Him") with the usual (non-ethnic) clothing and hairstyle alterations one more time in DC's Young Love #111 (1974).
Next week:
Another Example of the Fascinating Attempt by DC to be More Inclusive...
You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!
(Oh, you've heard that, eh?)
And now a word from out sponsor...
Visit our

Negro Romance
Comic Collectibles Store
featuring the cover art from all four HTF issues on kool kollectibles!